EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know as you start into your day.

1. #RELATIONSHIP: Fine Gael’s chairman Charlie Flanagan has dismissed the link between businessman Denis O’Brien and the government as “overhyped”, though the TD told TheJournal.ie that there needs to be “clear blue water” between the government and O’Brien.

2. #ROADS: A male pedestrian has died after being struck by a car in Dublin city centre in the early hours of this morning.

3. #ARMED GARDAÍ: Speaking at a garda conference yesterday, Garda Commissioner Martin Callin has rejected calls for more gardaí to be licensed to carry firearms, RTÉ reports.

4. #FLORIDA: Irishman Tom Walsh, 43, has been killed in a shooting at his restaurant in Florida. Originally from Tipperary, Walsh managed the restaurant in DeLand, Florida, and was found dead at the premises after what police believe was an attempted robbery.

5. #US 2012: Mitt Romney has taken three more primaries in his push for the Republic Party’s presidential election nomination. The former Massachusetts governor is 16 points ahead of his nearest rival Rick Santorum in the latest Gallup opinion poll.

6. #TORNADOES: At least two tornadoes have struck the Dallas and Fort Worth areas of Texas, injuring more than a dozen people and causing serious damage to homes and businesses. Hundreds of flights to and from the area were cancelled or diverted because of the storms.

7. #LANDING: An 80-year-old US woman who took some flying classes 30 years ago has carried out a successful emergency landing of the plane she was travelling in after her pilot husband suffered a fatal heart at the controls.

8. #LEBANON: The UN is calling for a full investigation into the suicide of an Ethiopian woman who had been filmed being beaten in the streets of Beirut outside the Ethiopian consulate. The woman was working as a housemaid in Beirut, Al Jazeera reports, and the release of the footage caused national outrage over her treatment.

9. #HEAD FOR HEIGHTS: A daredevil climber has released footage of himself climbing to the very top of one of Moscow’s tallest and most iconic buildings – without safety gear:

(Video uploaded by GooDok13)